Knee surgery involves cutting, stretching, displacement, and/or other impairment of flesh, bone, muscle, ligament, and/or tendon in and near the knee joint. Full recovery from such surgery, when possible, generally requires exercise to regain the tone and full use of these biological articles.
Following surgery, the knee joint is usually swollen and stiff. In time, and with proper and regular exercise, swelling and stiffness can be reduced or even eliminated, and flexure (i.e., the ability to extend and retract the lower leg relative to the upper leg) can be restored to the knee. A patient who sees a positive effect or progress due to his or her exercise routine is more likely to continue to exercise. Any of a number of exercise regimens can be used to accomplish the goal of improved or full knee flexure, but such exercise regimens form no part of the present invention.
United States Published Patent Application No. 2003/0171196, published Sep. 11, 2003 on application of James J. Cunningham for POST OPERATIVE KNEE FLEXER, purportedly discloses an apparatus for allowing a patient, who is recovering from knee surgery, to adjust his or her lower leg. No description of a metering device is found in the reference, although a protractor to represent relative positioning between two structural elements is shown attached to the machine.
It would be advantageous to provide a device for measuring the amount of flexure of a knee joint after surgery thereon.
It would also be advantageous to provide a non-intrusive progressive metering device that would accurately indicate the degree of flexure of a knee joint as a function of a lower leg attached thereto.
It would further be advantageous to provide a portable measuring or metering device for indicating the degree of flexure of a knee joint.
It would also be advantageous to provide a progressive metering device that could be stored or transported easily by the user thereof.
It would also be advantageous to provide a self-positioning progressive metering device that can be disposed proximate the legs of any conventional chair.